McCain is Mere Lint on the Shoulder

Who Me McCain?

I won't publicize the guy's filth here, but McCain has spent a lot of time lately with ads of pure filth. First, he accuses Barack of not spending time with the troops BY SHOWING FOOTAGE OF BARACK WITH THE TROOPS! Then, he says he didn't go see the troops because he wasn't allowed to bring cameras in, a line so patently false the McCain campaign actually had to admit it.

Now, he has an ad saying Obama is like "Britney Spears," actually showing footage of HER in the ad! What the hell, man? This has her publicist upset and has McCain dragging in innocent Americans into his political mud slinging! It's just the same old Republican rhetoric...America is great, but we hate half the people. They even drag in their own evangelical voters, like Britney.

Give it a rest, dude. You have fucked up the economy. Now, you are spending your time with this sludge? We just had 8 years of it. We won't have any more.

John McCain is truly pathetic.

My promise still stands. If he wins, we move to Canada. We can't survive 4 more years of his policies.

Tim Looks Great!

Tim Johnson has his first ad on the air in South Dakota. Remember Tim Johnson? He had a brain hemmorhage 2 years ago not too long after the 2006 elections. Seems fresh, with just a bit of slurring. Good to see Tim back in the game!

Trust Republicans

Bush in 2004:

...the federal deficit is soaring to a record $427 billion for fiscal 2005 or $15 billion higher than what it was for fiscal 2004 that ended on September 30, 2004.

The rising budget deficit effectively questions the President George W. Bush's pledge to cut budget deficits to half by 2009.

Today:

Deficit for next year to approach $490 billion amid sagging economy.

Grounds for Disqualification for McCain?

John McCain has just gone on record stating that "The Surge" (tm) *caused* the Anbar Awakening.

This is notable for two reasons. First, the Anbar Awakening is part of the *real* reason security improved in Iraq. The people of Iraq (Sunni's specifically) got tired of al Qaeda blowing up their country. So, they took money from America to patrol the streets.

It's still in effect, even if sometimes they vow to break the deal.

But, second, on a question from Katie Couric about Obama's pointing out the AA has been the major component of this peace, John McCain said:

I don't know how you respond to something that is as -- such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel MacFarland was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening. I mean, that's just a matter of history.

He's dead wrong. Read the article for the timeline. It's not a sticking point, it's simply historical fact. And if his understanding of these extreeeeeeeeeeemely important events...that's just sickening to me.

It's gonna be a big, long day for John McCain.

I Trust Barack Obama

Barack Obama opposed to war in Iraq back in 2002. John McCain endorsed and pushed for it. Obama was right.

Barack Obama has supported diplomacy with not just our friend, but our enemies. McCain thinks pointing nukes at Iran is the best way to go. Today, Bush has changed course and is negotiating with Iran. Even Bush thinks Obama is right.

John McCain pushed for Gas Tax Holiday to "give Americans a break at the pump this summer." Barack Obama knew that saving a few bucks was just pandering to voters, would severely hurt our ability to maintain our roads and highways, and would only provide an opportunity for the oil companies to make up the difference by raising the cost of gas. Today, it looks like we'll have to raise the gas tax to keep up with the repair needs. Obama was right.

Barack Obama is pushing a plan to get our troops out of Iraq within 16 months. John McCain wants to stay there for "100 years". Today, Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki endorses the view of Barack Obama. Seems he's right.

...

So, why do you want to vote for John McCain, and what is all his "experience" worth if Obama's always right?

Hey stubborn Hillary voters, have fun with McCain!

Jib Jab - Starring Cedric!

Keep an eye out at the end for little Cedric Shea. :-)

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Obama's Not Alone

This is seriously from an AP article today:

WASHINGTON - What gets under Barack Obama's skin?

Criticism of his wife, Michelle Obama.

Hey, guess what? You mess with my wife it gets under my skin, too. Any decent man would agree. Thanks for the news, AP. The only difference between Barack and John McCain on this is that the AP never has anything to say about his elitist, silver-spoon-in-mouth second wife, Cindy.

McCain, Seriously?

I know how to win wars.

Really, John? Spoken by a guy who was a POW for 5 years. Spoken by a guy who attacks John Kerry, a man who actually saved peoples lives. Spoken by a guy who advocated "cutting and running" out of Somalia and Bosnia. Spoken by a man who claims the "surge" is working when in fact it has nothing to do with the drop in violence in Iraq -- and is not securing any "victory" whatsoever seeing that WE ARE STILL THERE A YEAR AND A HALF LATER with no end in sight.

John McCain, you were a soldier. That's it. You don't know bupkis about winning wars and you certainly didn't know it when you called Iraq a "cakewalk" and advocated "stay the course" for years and years for this dead end quagmire we're in.

Idiot.

Weapon of Mass Destruction

Well, I took some time today to play with Scrabblizer and had some fun with it. Throw a made up rack in there, then open up TextMate and write as many words as I can make from the letters. Then, hit Enter and get the answers.

It was a helpful exercise, but checking my answers was a nightmare. I was mixing and matching my words, different lengths, sometimes putting the plural long after the singular, etc.

So, I decided to take Scrabblizer and build it out. And we got the Scrabble Coach:

Hoo, doggie! This little gem fits the bill nicely! First, you enter your rack by clicking the tiles at the top. Then, looking at the graphical rack, you start entering words. Your words go in the top row of grids, divided out by word length so you have a good idea of how many big and small words you have. Then, when you have practiced enough, you get your answers.

Walla! Here's the winner. Along the bottom row of grids come the answers. All the answers are alphabetical and sorted by word size, so it's very easy to see what went right and what went wrong. And then you're scored!

Very fun practice. You can even play competitively if, say, your wife sits in the same room as you. :-) And going through the racks and getting all the answers after your toil is extremely educational. I'm loving it.

Again, if you'd like this program, just let me know. The code is, sadly, hideous, hahaha...so, no code. But, it's extremely stable and free of the bugs. ;-)

(I, admittedly, rushed the coding effort because of my extreme desire to actually USE it.)

Weapon of War

Spent a couple hours last night putting together this little guy. It's a Scrabble Word Analyzer:

It's a pretty little wrapper over this tool which I wrote in Adobe AIR. Much handier and easier to use.

What it does is take any set of letters (generally 7) and gives you all the legal Scrabble words you can make from it. Obviously, this little gem could cheat you to a title. However, I'm using it to practice. I just type in an imaginary Scrabble tile rack, then analyze for a bit, trying to come up with bingos and big words. Then, just hit Enter, and in seconds, I have the answers.

So far, it's helping with the 3-letter words. I browse all the words it finds, and I find the 3-letter words sticking to my mind the most because they happen more frequently. It's just not as common to run into ARISTAE, but I'll keep that one in my memory, too. ;-)

If you want a copy of it, just let me know. I can email it. Or just use the Web page for the inferior Web experience (with far less purple!)

Cedric Playing Peek-a-Boo

Let's Go Mets!!!

Don't look now, but the Mets are suddenly hit and getting things together! Delgado is looking like Delgado instead of ME at the plate, Reyes and Wright are getting stronger and, holy jeez, the Mets pitching is hot!

In the last 5 games, the Mets have given up 4 runs on 13 hits! (That should be a one game total!)

We're only a half game out of first with one to play before the All-Star Break! Do my proud boys, you're playing great!!!

Condolences to Tony Snow, But...

"It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day," said President Bush

Fuck that.

We're Looking at You, Kentucky!

12 percent of voters surveyed said that Obama was sworn in as a United States senator on a Qur'an, while 26 percent believe the Democratic candidate was raised as a Muslim and 39 percent believe he attended a Muslim school as a child growing up in Indonesia. None of these things is true.

Americans scare me sometimes.

Welcome Back

This is C-SPAN coverage of the moment Ted Kennedy stepped back into the Senate to cast the deciding vote on today's Medicare bill:

Spot on, old man!

McCain Is Obviously Mentally Insane

Yesterday in Denver:

Social Security is a DISGRACE because -- get this -- young people pay for older people. WOW, WHO KNEW! That's what the system is. It's the first thing we all learn. And it's a disgrace?

And he's gonna fix it by -- sitting down with the Democrats and working a solution? Well, the only solution would be to eliminate it because -- uh -- WTF?

Scrabble!

Yesterday evening Michele and I made our way to a local Scrabble Club hosted at the Barnes & Noble near our house. Dragging along our giant Deluxe Scrabble box and OSPD (Official Scrabble Players' Dictionary)...

There were about 6 others there, which is a decent amount for an innocuous Tuesday evening at 6:30. After getting frappuciono-ed up, Michele and I split up with her playing Angela and me playing a woman who's name I can say, but can't spell -- Leazene?

So, it was my first "somewhat competitive" Scrabble game. Immediately, I had the same feelings of when I had my first chess game at Chess Club. We used a clock. She kept a scoresheet. (I passed on scoring for this first visit, I'll learn it later.) Very tense.

And the game will be very memorable. First of all, I scored TWO bingos in one game for the first time ever. After all my online play, it occurred on my first club game. Not bad. :-) The words were TENDING and ...uh, I forget the other. haha.

The other memorable thing was I LOST. I lost by like 70 points. Which seems ridiculous, but the woman was good. I wish I'd kept score because it bewilders me. I had an 70- and 80-point bingo, but my final score hoevered around 300. Meh?

Anyway, after that game I played a man named Keith who was really nice. Lost that one, too. Much uglier game, yet I still scored 300 and barely lost. Something seems amiss. ;-)

Anyway, we had a lot of fun and, not sure about Michele, but I'll definitely be back next month...and even more prepared! Gotta keep practicing! COME ON JOHN, STUDY THOSE TWO LETTER WORDS!

Mission: Destroy The Health Insurance Mafia

Elizabeth Edwards' group has released its first salvo in getting us out of the healthcare mess. Love it:

And that's exactly how it works, too.

Swee-ney, Sweeney Todd!

Michele and I saw Sweeney Todd last night. Neither of us liked it much. The cinematics were good, but the ending sorta reaked. We both agree we liked the Heritage Square production of it better. :-)